What Are Some of the Most Populous Cities in the United States?

As of 2015, the most populous cities in the United States are New York, Los Angeles, Chiciago and Houston, each with populations between two and eight million people. Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego and Dallas all have populations between 1.2 and 1.5 million people.

New York City, the largest city in the United States, is home to 8.49 million people, according to the 2012 census, with an estimated 52,000-person increase each year since. The next largest city, Los Angeles has less than half as many at 3.92 million people. Chicago comes in third at 2.7 million and Houston fourth at 2.2 million. The next two largest cities, Philadelphia and Phoenix, both have 1.5 million people with San Antonio trailing just behind at 1.4 million. Round out the top 10 most populous cities are San Diego, Dallas and San Jose with 1.38, 1.28 and 1.01 million people respectively.

Although New York is the largest city, it has one of the lowest growth rates at 0.6 percent. Only Philadelphia and Chicago have lower growth rates at 0.3 and 0.003 percent. In 2013, only 82 people moved into Chicago. The second largest city, Los Angeles, only has a growth rate of 0.8 percent. The seventh largest city, San Antonio, has the highest growth rate at 1.8 percent each year, with Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and San Diego all at 1.6 percent and San Jose at 1.2 percent.